Sail for skater



May 28, 1957 R. R. BOWMAN SAIL FOR SKATER Filed Oct; 25, 1954 ATTORNEY United States Patent SAIL FOR SKATER Ruby R. Bowman, Martin, S. Dak.

Application October 25, 1954, Serial No. 464,340

1 Claim. (Cl. 280-1137) My invention relates to a sail for skaters for the purpose of propelling the skater forward.

It is an object of my invention to provide a sail for use by a skater that will be easily maneuverable and thereby enable the skater to perform various feats of sailing, such as saling before the wind, tacking, etc.

Another object of my invention is to provide a sail that can be readily put into use without necessitating the use of fastening buckles, straps, or the like to fasten the sail to the wearer.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sail for use by skaters which comprises a minimum of parts and thereby renders it simple and inexpensive to manufacture and to maintain in repair.

Still a further object is to make a sail of light materials so that it may be held by the skater without effort or unnecessary fatigue.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this application, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

Figure l is a perspective view of my invention showing the sail in use by a left-handed person.

Figure 2 is a side-elevational view of the sail for use by a right-handed person.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the cross bar and loop.

Figure 4 is an edge view on line 44 of Figure 2.

In the drawing, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred ebodiment of my invention, the numeral 1 designates the frame which is of light-weight tubular material, preferably aluminum. The frame 1, forms a right triangle and includes a vertical leg 2, a horizontal leg 3, and a hypotenuse 4. A flexible sheet material 5, covers the frame 1, and is attached thereto by any suitable means. For purposes of illustration, I have shown the flexible material 5, attached to the frame 1, by means of rows of stitching 6. While any flexible material may be used to cover the frame, I prefer to use canvas.

2,793,870 Patented May 28, 1957 Numeral 7 designates a tubular brace bar with a flexible loop 8, fixed thereon approximately midway of said bar member 7, by means of a bolt 9. A rigid elongated handgrip member 10, having ears 11, on opposite ends thereof is fixed to said vertical leg 2 of the frame 1, by bolts 9, which extend through the ears 11. The hand-grip member 10, is in spaced relation to the loop 8.

In operation, the skater places his forearm through the loop and grasps the rigid hand member with his hand.

The sail is maneuvered to various sailing positions by moving the arm to catch the wind in the sail. With practice, the skater can learn to tack and execute other intricate maneuvers.

By making the hand-grip 10, in the form of a rigid member which is rigidly connected to the frame, the user of the sail can easily hold the sail against tilting or feathering and the resultant spilling of the wind therefrom. However, this arrangement also allows the user to tilt or feather the sail so as to spill the wind out of the same when such action is desirable. Likewise the rigid hand-grip 10, in cooperation with the forearm loop 8, permits the sail to be maneuvered without more effort than is required to move the forearm as the sail can be feathered as aforesaid during any manipulation which would normally require the sail and forearm to be moved dead against the wind.

For best results, the sail should be approximately /3 the height of the skater. My sail, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, can be made for use on either the right or left arm.

It is understood that the form of my invention, herewith shown and described, is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size, and arrangements of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention, as hereinafter claimed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A skating sail comprising a tubular right angular triangular frame including a vertical leg, a horizontal leg and a hypotenuse, a sheet of flexible material covering said frame and secured thereto, a brace bar extending from said vertical leg to said hypotenuse and secured thereto, a rigid U-shaped hand grip positioned on said vertical leg adjacent said brace bar, an arm loop fixed to said brace bar midway thereof by fastening means, and said arm loop being in horizontal alignment with said hand grip for securing a forearm therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,178,165 Lupton Apr. 4, 1916 1,859,178 Sprinkle May 17, 1932 2,316,055 Davey Apr. 6, 1943 2,577,917 Root Dec. 11, 1951 

